Top 10 Fall Vibes Reading List
A slightly spooky reading list
I picked a list of ten books I have personally read that give off fall vibes, but are what I like to call light thrillers. I am not a huge fan of horror, but I love a good mystery with a small side of creepiness. I love a story with gothic vibes and some thrilling situations to go along with it.
This list checks all these boxes in one way or another.
Number 1. Let’s start with a classic Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.
Probably my favorite classic story, I tend toward the dramatic when it comes to turbulent love stories, and this one accomplishes it! Tortured love affair between Heathcliff and Catherine on the lonely moors of Yorkshire. Catherine chooses her duty as a well-bred lady instead of choosing love. Both are tortured because of their doomed love. Heathcliff returns years later and brings revenge to those who wronged him.
Number 2. I am currently reading this one! Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney
The Darker family has spent years avoiding one another until Nana invites them all to her gothic house at the edge of the sea for her 80th birthday. But when the tide rolls in every night, the house is cut off from the world for eight hours. And when they are all trapped, one by one they begin to die. Now the family must come to terms with their secrets, hurts and anger to figure out the mystery threatening them all.
Number 3. First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston
Evie has a job to do, hired by a Mr. Smith whose identity has remained a secret, she must stay a step ahead of her past. But this job is unlike all her others, she has broken the rule of getting too close. She is getting comfortable with this fake life with Ryan, and she starts to envision a future with him. But when things start to unravel, all the secrets she has been keeping threaten to upend her possible happy future. This thriller kept me guessing!
Number 4. Classic Tales of Horror by Edgar Allan Poe
This book contains multiple of Poe’s classic tales. He is a master at gothic horror, where his tales explore the hidden depths of the human mind. I first remember reading Edgar Allen Poe my first year of college, which seems late to be introduced to such a talent. But honestly, I don’t remember much of high school. Anyway, I read the Tell-tale heart and was mesmerized by the tension Poe created with his words. This book has multiple short stories to satisfy your creepy Halloween reading.
Number 5. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
I was so hooked by this book! Noemi is a glamorous debutante who receives a strange, distressed letter from her cousin who has just married and moved to the Mexican countryside. The house and family are menacing and captivating, and the mystery of this place begins to terrify Noemi as she soon realizes there may be no escaping this hypnotic place.
Number 6. None of This is True by Lisa Jewell
Alix is a famous podcaster celebrating her 45th birthday at a local pub, when she meets a woman, Josie also celebrating her 45th birthday. Soon after they run into each other in town, and Josie tells Alix she has something interesting for her podcast. Josie begins to unravel secrets from her life as Alix records their unsettling conversations. Alix wonders if it is safe to continue but can’t pull herself out of the strange and terrifying story she is learning. Before she can untangle herself from Josie and what she has done, Alix is caught up and her life and family is in grave danger. This story is creepy and unsettling to say the least, but I could not put it down.
Number 7. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
This psychological thriller took me by surprise. I read it in my book club, and we were all hooked and surprised! Alicia is a famous artist and married to a man who everyone thought she loved, leading a near perfect life. Until she kills her husband and then never speaks again. Theo is a criminal psychotherapist sent to untangle the mystery of what happened. The search to uncover the truth will consume them both. This book is twisty and intense until the last pages!
Number 8. What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall
Growing up Naomi, Olivia and Cassidy spent their summers playing in the woods, creating goddess games. Until one day Naomi was attacked and left for dead. But she survived and her friends could identify the man who attacked her. But twenty-two years later secrets and lies begin to mingle, allowing doubt and questions to surface. Naomi is determined to find out what really happened in the woods all those years ago. This is a twisty maze to get caught up in and it keeps the reader hooked until the end.
Number 9. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
This short story is revered as early American feminist literature, told in first person by a woman who is experiencing “nervous tendencies” after having a baby. Her husband, who is a doctor prescribes rest and eating well for her. She is essentially trapped in the nursery with walls covered in yellow wallpaper. She begins to imagine she is not alone. This short story gives us hints about attitudes concerning women’s mental and emotional health.
Number 10. The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
Libby became an orphan at 6 months old, now at 25 she has received an inheritance of an old uninhabited townhome in an exclusive London neighborhood. But with it comes a mystery family and secrets that have remained hidden until she was ready to claim them. What really happened decades earlier to her and the family that is coming out of hiding to meet her?
So there you have it, my top 10 fall/semi-creepy/kind of thriller vibes book list!
What are you reading right now?
